Off-Road Ranger I
I finally made the big move! Packed up pretty much every bit of the Rover parts I've amassed & stuffed it all into/onto the truck. Even though I've been distracted by the engine build, seemed like time to relocate the truck to it's new home for the swap before things started freezing up.
I had intentionally left it complete after the rebuild to make relocating possible without requiring a tow/trailer. Still had a cracked block, so it wasn't as if I expected the trip to be without it's challenges... but it did turn into a little "adventure" of it's own.
Made it ~3-4 miles before the temp gauge maxed out & I could make out the sound of a rolling boil coming from the heater core. Thankfully I had the ability to bleed off the exhaust gases that were being pumped into the cooling system with the upgraded thermostat housing I had tapped an air-line draincock into. Of course the drizzle of rain had to go monsoon on me in the midst of letting old faithful cut loose:
Turns out there's no real way to talk that big a chunk of metal into speeding up it's cooling off on account of my getting soaked through by 40 degree rain. But ah well, at least I forgot to put my window up & had a nice frosty puddle on my seat to look forward to sitting in for the remainder of the drive. And better yet, the battery decided it was the right moment to go flat on me...
Luckily a good friend was doing me a solid & acting as a chase vehicle, now also a recovery vehicle. After jumping it alive again I was getting in a mood to throw safety to the wind & just drive it regardless of what any of the gauges had to say about it. This is when I learned that Land Rover coolant temperature gauges can uhhh... roll over... Yup, you read that right. By the time we got to the shop the gauge's needle had flipped completely around & managed to destroy itself somehow
The rubber coolant hoses had so much pressure in them that you'd swear they were filled with concrete, no matter, we made it without a tow!
I had intentionally left it complete after the rebuild to make relocating possible without requiring a tow/trailer. Still had a cracked block, so it wasn't as if I expected the trip to be without it's challenges... but it did turn into a little "adventure" of it's own.
Made it ~3-4 miles before the temp gauge maxed out & I could make out the sound of a rolling boil coming from the heater core. Thankfully I had the ability to bleed off the exhaust gases that were being pumped into the cooling system with the upgraded thermostat housing I had tapped an air-line draincock into. Of course the drizzle of rain had to go monsoon on me in the midst of letting old faithful cut loose:
Turns out there's no real way to talk that big a chunk of metal into speeding up it's cooling off on account of my getting soaked through by 40 degree rain. But ah well, at least I forgot to put my window up & had a nice frosty puddle on my seat to look forward to sitting in for the remainder of the drive. And better yet, the battery decided it was the right moment to go flat on me...
Luckily a good friend was doing me a solid & acting as a chase vehicle, now also a recovery vehicle. After jumping it alive again I was getting in a mood to throw safety to the wind & just drive it regardless of what any of the gauges had to say about it. This is when I learned that Land Rover coolant temperature gauges can uhhh... roll over... Yup, you read that right. By the time we got to the shop the gauge's needle had flipped completely around & managed to destroy itself somehow
The rubber coolant hoses had so much pressure in them that you'd swear they were filled with concrete, no matter, we made it without a tow!
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